Reading · B2 · Text 34

Freiheit

64 words1 min read98% known at B2

Zum Beispiel darf man nicht alles machen, was man will.
For example, you are not allowed to do everything you want.
Man darf niemandem weh tun oder Dinge stehlen.
You must not hurt anyone or steal things.
Freiheit bedeutet heute, dass die Leute „frei von etwas“ sind.
Freedom today means that people are 'free from something'.
Der Staat darf ihnen nichts Schlimmes tun, ihnen nicht alles verbieten und muss sie vor anderen beschützen.
The state must not do anything bad to them, must not forbid them everything, and must protect them from others.
Die Menschen müssen auch die Möglichkeit haben, etwas zu tun.
People must also have the opportunity to do something.
Ansonsten hätten sie keine Chance, wirklich frei zu sein.
Otherwise, they would have no chance to be truly free.

13 words above B2

darf← dürfen

may, to be allowed to dürfen, durfte, gedurft; modal verb to be allowed (to do something); to be permitted (to do something); may; to be allowed or permitted to do something implied or previously stated;… A2

weh tun

to hurt (someone) separated in sentence: 'weh tun' -> 'weh' + 'tun'; often used with dative object A1[ˈveː ˌtuːn]

stehlen

to steal stiehlt, stahl, gestohlen to steal; to skulk, to move secretly B1/ˈʃteːlən/

Freiheit

freedom plural: Freiheiten freedom; liberty; clearance B1/ˈfʁaɪ̯haɪ̯t/

bedeutet← bedeuten

means bedeuten, bedeutete, bedeutet to imply, to mean, to signify, to indicate, to spell, to betoken; to have meaning, to be important to some degree (to a person); to signify, to… A1/bəˈdɔɪ̯tn̩/

Leute

people plural only people (several individual persons, a group of people in general, esp. of one kind or another), folk (folks), peeps (slang), guys (boys and/or girls) A1/ˈlɔɪ.tə/ [ˈlɔe̠.t(ʰ)ə]

Staat

state, government plural: Staaten country, state (politically constituted legal person wielding absolute power of a population and territory); state/government, authorities (the… A2/ʃtaːt/

Schlimmes← schlimm

bad things (nominalized adjective) used as noun: etwas Schlimmes bad, terrible, serious (seriously bad), dire, horrible, awful; hurting, ill, infected; badly, severely A2/ʃlɪm/

verbieten

to forbid verbietet, verbot, verboten to forbid, prohibit (someone from doing something) A2

beschützen

to protect beschützt, beschützte, beschützt to protect, to guard, to defend B1[bəˈʃʏt͡sn̩]

Möglichkeit

possibility, opportunity plural: Möglichkeiten possibility, likelihood; option, choice A2/ˈmøːklɪçˌkaɪ̯t/

Ansonsten← ansonsten

otherwise also: sonst otherwise, besides, beyond that, if that happen not; adversative conjunction, otherwise, for else B2/anˈzɔnstən/

Chance

chance, opportunity plural: Chancen chance B1/ˈʃãːs(ə)/

Grammar in this text

Modal verb with infinitive at end

Man darf niemandem weh tun oder Dinge stehlen.

The modal verb 'darf' is conjugated in second position, and the infinitives 'weh tun' and 'stehlen' appear at the end of the sentence.

Subjunctive II for hypothetical statements

Ansonsten hätten sie keine Chance, wirklich frei zu sein.

The verb 'hätten' is the subjunctive II form of 'haben', used here to express a hypothetical or unreal condition.

Infinitive clause with 'zu'

die Möglichkeit haben, etwas zu tun

The infinitive 'zu tun' follows a noun phrase, forming an infinitive clause that specifies what the possibility is about.

Pronoun 'ihnen' as dative object

Der Staat darf ihnen nichts Schlimmes tun

The pronoun 'ihnen' is the dative form of 'sie' (they), used as the indirect object of the verb 'tun'.

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Text from Freiheit — Klexikon, used under CC BY-SA 4.0. See sources.

Translation, glossary and grammar notes are machine-generated and inherit the same licence.